1. introduction Flashcards
Consumer culture
represents the commonly held social beliefs that define what is socially gratifying within a specific society
Culture has important functions for consumers 3
giving meaning to objects
giving meaning to activities
facilitating communication
Cultural norms
the rules that specify the appropriate behavior in a given situation within a specific culture
cultural sanction
refers to the penalties associated with performing non-gratifying culturally inconsistent behavior
How do cultural norms influence consumption? 3
the fashion industry is extremely influenced by cultural norms
ecology = physical characteristics that describe the physical environment and habitat of the particular place
tradition = custom and accepted way of structuring society
3 different ways culture is learned
social interaction > modeling > reinforcement
enculturation = way people learn their native culture
acculturation = process by which consumers come to learn a culture other than their natural native culture
role expectations
the specific expectations that are associated with each type of person within a culture
sex roles
the societal expectations for men and women among members of a cultural group
role conflict
a situation where a consumer experiences conflicting expectations based on cultural expectations (e.g. shaving armpits)
divergence
a situation in which consumers choose membership in micro cultures in order to stand out and define themselves
Values
abstract, enduring beliefs about what is right, wrong, important or good/bad
Value system
our total set of values and their relative importance
Lifestyles
distinctive modes of living, including how people spend their time and money
We study lifestyle through psychographics =
quantitative investigation of consumer lifestyle
VALS technique: what to do?
: identify different groups of consumers and identify them across two dimensions:
VALS technique: identify different groups of consumers and identify them across two dimensions:
motivation: ideal, achievement and self-expression
resources: high resources, high innovation or low resources, low innovation
geo-demographic techniques
techniques that provide data on consumer expenditures and socioeconomic variables with geographic information in order to identify commonalities in consumption patterns of households in various regions
most used lifestyle technique
demographics
Self-congruency theory
behavior can be explained by congruency between a consumer’s self-concept and the image of a typical user of the product
marketers can use congruency theory by
segmenting markets into groups of consumers who perceive high self-concept congruence with the product-user image
downside self-congruency theory
downside: Victoria’s secret
